eat. pray. [love.]

Loved the book.  Liked the movie.  Sad that Liz Gilbert looked all over the world for what only God can give ... and didn't find it.

YET ... I think she might have been on to something.  The more I thought tonight on my drive home, the more I considered that if we boiled life down to those three things ... we would have a sweet life!

eat.
Time goes fast around the table.  Have you ever noticed that??? I got to spend two hours at the dinner table last night talking with my dear nurse friends.  I spent almost three hours tonight laughing and talking over pizza and gelato (call it a eat, pray, love induced meal choice!!)... and if we weren't adults with jobs and they weren't girls with husbands, we might not have left even then.  Tomorrow I plan to picnic on the lawn, listen to some good music, eat and talk with good friends.  Eating is not JUST about what we eat ... and it's not ONLY about eating.  It's about the place where barriers come down, needs get met, and conversations are had.  It's soooo much more than the food ... although that can be fun, too.  It's the community we find when we share a meal.  There's no better place for fellowship than a great big table!

pray.
If the table is the sweet spot for human relationships, prayer is the sweet spot for our relationship with our Father!  We joked as we prayed for our food tonight ... "you're praying to THE God, right?"  Loved Liz Gilbert's courage and her questions.  Loved where she went and who she was.  Hated that she looked inside herself for what only God could give.  All the hours she meditated in the ashram ... and how many others pray to a god who never hears them.  We take lightly the privilege we have to approach our Father ... any time with anything.  Nothing's gonna wake Him up or catch Him by surprise.  Nothing's too big or too small.  We have the ear of the King of the universe.  We can walk and talk with the Creator.  We can crawl up close and whisper to our Father.  One of my most favorite times in seminary was prayer walking around campus ... just walking with a friend and as we walked praying out loud like God was right there on the sidewalk between us.  I came to learn to make prayer a real conversation and not just a churchy, formal speech that we give with our hands folded and eyes closed.  There's an intimacy in that kind of prayer. 

love.
I think we have a hard time truly hanging out with God and not loving others as He does.  Our lives are richer and better because of who we love and how we are loved.  Our lives are marked by those we love and who love us.  Our lives are changed by love.  We love because He loved us first.  Love is what makes a family of friends.  Love is what marks us as followers of Christ. 

eat.  pray.  love.  think that's a pretty good place to start living.